


Blood Ties, Blood Flows

by punchyWizard



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-01-16 14:12:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18523174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punchyWizard/pseuds/punchyWizard
Summary: A gaggle of oc's run around the Witcher universe in a self indulgent story made up as I go. Kairos Fights monsters, Kurist looks for family, others are there. Its a real fun time. TW for blood, gore, sexist remarks, allusion to rapeAlso  theres gonna be one or two changes to canon (especially in regards to female witchers) because sometimes rules are dumb.





	1. Stupid Beginnings, Stupid Braggarts

The sound of the whetstone raking across silver plated steel. Rhythmic, slow. She breathes. The scraping of stone sharpening a blade. Cathartic, calming. She breathes. It was slow, many people wouldn’t have the patience for it. At a time, she wouldn’t have but now? Now it’s a practice thats a part of her.

Kai wouldn’t be the type to meditate, many might think. She’s loud, boisterous some might say, and quick to act so many who meet her might not take her for the meditating type. In another life, she might not be.

But in this life, she was a witcher and meditation was trained into her over the entirety of her childhood.

So now, her hands moved on their own. Her mind still, calm. Listening to the stone drag across her sword. Preparation for the incoming threat. It wasn’t the first time she’d knelt in a dank cave somewhere, mud caking her armored pants. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard the click of her quarry’s claw’s as it smelled the intruder waiting in its lair.

It smelled the herbs in the oil she rubbed on her blade, the irritated clack of teeth as it stalks forward. Her medallion thrums, Kai rising to her feet in a leap. But something was off. That isn’t the clack of talons she hears, but hobnailed boots. Her posture relaxing a bit she watched as torchlight began to fill the cave, loud laughers and a marching chant starting up as six figures hopped and danced into view.

_“WHOOoo swung ‘is sword and knocked ‘em dead, swung again chopped off ‘is head, one more time to down the swiiiiiiiiine, boy ain’t our men just ruddy fine!”_ The sources of this noise soon quieted as the witcher was revealed, torchlight shining off her eyes as the silver sword lowered.

“Valdo look!! Tolja theres a mutant about, tolja dinei?” The men carried long spears, hooked like harpoons below the tip. She had to guess they were self proclaimed monster hunters, probably good at clearing drowners out of the local creek.

“Ya did, ya did. Why don’ you take another look though, this’n’s a lass. Ain’t no such thing witcheresses.” The one she had to assume was Valdo strode forward, sunken in eyes passing up and down Kai’s form. “Now, whats a pretty little thing like yerself doin’ ‘ere eh? Hopin’ to earn a rut from the vampire? I could give yeh one to marvel at ahhah!”

“Look at the eyes, Valdo. Like cats. I’m tellin’ yous, this here’s the one!” The one whod spoke before leans on his pike, face scrunched into a frown that juxtaposed fittingly against Valdo’s lecherous grin.

“No one is getting a rut from this creature, ekkimmara are more interested in ripping you apart to fed on than anything carnal.” Kai’s tone was level, watching as this gang stayed mostly grouped. She’d guess they were waiting for some kind of word from their leader. “And you should listen to your friend, I’m a witcher of the school of the griffin. Here to kill this beast, one you aren’t equipped to handle.”

That earned a round of laughter from the group. “Ain’t equipped? You heard that boys??” Valdo mocked fear, giggling as he stamped his feet in the mud. “Witcheress says we just couldn’t handle it!”

“As if the onna yous gonna fare better’n the six of us.”  
“She’s tall for a lass, but I bet we could take her.”  
“We’ve killed a bundle of ekkimajigs darlin’, bet we could show you the scars real fun like.”

Their jeering came in a wave, most of it downing itself into garbled words. Vadlo, one of the two not carrying a pike, raised his sword and leveled it in Kai’s direction with an extended arm. “Our weapons ‘ave been anointed by the eternal fire! We got bundle’s of garlic, holy water, and the blood of a virgin! Ain’t no vampire what stands a chance love, you can be sure.”

There was a raucous round of whoops and hollers after that, the sound of fists banging against the various bits of improvised armor they wore causing a cacophony of sound to fill the chamber. If the ekkimma hadn’t been returning to its lair before, she’s sure it’d be alerted to the intruders now considering half the country could probably hear them.

“Look at that boys, shes speechless!” Valdo had begun to close the distance now, his boy’s fanning out to block off any perceived chance for escape. She’s sure they think they’re being sneaky. “What’s yer name girl? You’ve got one don’t ya?”

“Kairos.” Her bade rose quick, a flick of the wrist pressing the tip right below the approacher’s right eye. He boggled as er felt the cold metal begin to break skin and took a few steps back. “And why don’t you good samaritans run along, your holy blessings and such will do as much to deter the vampire from sucking the marrow from your bones as a garnish of rosemary would to the fox in your henhouse.”

“Bet she’s got some foolproof stuff, Valdo.” The skeptic who hadn’t moved from before, spoke. “Witcher’s got tonnes of potions what help’m fight.”

“Oi, bet yer right Norreck.” Valdo, who’s head reminds Kai of a thumb slammed in the doorway one too many times, pointed at the glass bottle on the ground near Kai’s feet. “Whatcha got there, love? Some witcher hooch per’aps? Aimed to repell the beast?”

“Blackbood. Potion. Turns the users blood to poison for those’s who’d feed on it.” A voice called from the darkness, causing Valdo and his gang to balk upwards and search for its origin.

“Whossat?? The beast???”

Kai smiled, “A friend. Backup, if you will.”

The thumb-shaped man turned to speak again but stopped, head snapping back towards they way they’d come from as he followed Kai’s eyes. She’d seen movement, she knows it. Something passing behind the wall of men. Ekkimmara were near impossible to spot while invisible, but if one was sharp enough they could spot the shift of light when one scrabbles around.

“Whashe starin’ at boss? Lookin’ for‘er f-” The youngest looking one cut off as a clawed hand, now visible grabbed his head. The palm big enough to encapsulate half his head, a loud crunch sounded as its claws pierced the skull and the young man gargled when thrown against the nearby wall. Nearly a second had passed.

A second man threw a rope of garlic at the bat-like creature, now visible, which didn’t seem to deter it as much as he was hoping. That was at least judging from how quickly its talons then pierced his improvised breastplate and sent him to the ground in a gurgling heap.

Kai jumped back, her silver sword whooshing through the air as she took a more defensive stance. If these men had any talent at all, they’d at least distract the creature long enough for her to strike. One of the pikes, near useless in such an enclosed space, jabbed at the ekkimma from the side, its bearer screaming in blind fear and fury. He looked similar to the first one, perhaps an older brother.

His death would be a bit more painful than the first, the clumsy polearm doing little to keep the larger creature from reaching him. Soon powerful arms grabbed him, one of the beasts hands ripping into his abdomen with feral ferocity and pulling away chunks of steaming meat. The pain must have been excruciating judging from his screams.

By the time the beast dropped him the other two of the troop were frozen in fear, aside from Valdo who dove to Kai’s feet. “Hey! Get off you fool, I need to **NO DON’T!!** ” But her cry came too late, the five ounce bottle she’d had was emptied by the man before she could stop him.

“I need it wench! I guh, guurk… Gmmphmnrr…” His eyes bulged as he shook, Valdo’s hands grasping at nothing as he began to convulse. His comrades hadn’t had time to notice their leader dying of the toxic potion, too busy meeting their own fate.

Kai lunged forward, sword striking the beast across the ribs as it picked the skeptical one, Norrek she believed, off the ground. He fell as it let go in pain and scrambled beneath its feet, hoping to find some form of escape.

“Mother Meletile protect me! Guide me from this evil place for I am a humble servant, do not let this foul crea **turekillmeohbythegods!!!** ” His prayer seemed to reach deaf ears and the short distance he was able to crawl lent him no protection from the beast, its claws tearing open his back and pulling him apart. As he continued to scream, Kai struck again, a large gash pouring thick blood down the ekkimma’s shoulder. It hissed and leapt for the last of Valdo’s men, one who’d been unable to even scream since the carnage had begun. Was it cruel to use these men as distractions to cute down this monster? Perhaps it was, yes but from the sound of their talk before they were their own kind of monsters. Kai felt little remorse as this last man was dismembered. Perhaps she would’ve if he’d managed to make a sound before hand.

Now without easy prey, the monster leapt at Kai, arms outstretched for and impressive reach. Her pirouette kept her out of its claws, a volley of bolts raining from the upper reached of the cave keeping it from focusing completely on her. It lunged again, snarling in wide eyed fury. Perhaps it knew it was not fighting for food anymore. Kai laughed, ducking beneath its swipes to slice along its thigh.

The ekkimma was limping now, fading into invisibility as if it hoped for a surprise attack. With an obtrusive hiss, a small object made an arch though the air, exploding not a half a second later into a could of sparkling particles that clung to the beast’s bloodsoaked flesh. It screamed, in pain, fury, and frustration as it was revealed in vision.

This was a dangerous dance, one that Kai loved more than anything. Er feet moved on something more than instinct, throwing her behind the beast once more and just waiting. Her body coiled back, sword aimed and once it turned to face her she sprung, thrusting forward with a powerful burst of muscle. The silver sword dug into the creature’s eye and Kai felt it pop as it did, the scraping of bone coming too as the blade flexed before she pulled away.

It was just guideless rage at this point, the ekkimma swiping at the whistles in the dark, every time it was struck. A wrongly placed step led it to one of the dropped torches, flames burning its blood soaked flesh as a mighty swipe tore open its throat. The beats dropped, crawling a few feet at it expired in a disgusting heap.

“Well, I won’t say that couldn’t have gone better.” Kai laughed, panting as the adrenaline coursed through her. “But it’s not like it couldn’t have gone worse!”

The sound of boots scraping stone was the response she got, her silver haired friend sidling up behind her. “You sometimes forget how freshly spilled bile reeks. Then an idiot is torn open and you remember.” His even voice reverberating in the now much more quiet lair.

“Ads, your aim is getting better with that thing. He show you a few tricks when we got together before?” A wide grin broke Kai’s face, as she approached her kill, sheathing her sword and pulling free a large skinning knife.

The more lithe figure snorts in response, fumbling with the cat‘s head medallion around his neck. “It’s not like you weren’t hanging around the whole time, no private lessons from him.”

“Oh I’d bet you’d’ve liked some _private lessons_ ahaaa!” Kai held the knife in front of her waist as if to emphasize the point of her joke. She knows how her companion feels about his best friend. Soon the room was silent aside from the sound of slicing muscles and a few grunts. “Maybe we’ll run into him again, said he was looking for his sister in the north right?”

“I’m not even sure his sister’s alive at this point, Kai. But yes.” There was a pause, when he spoke again he’d moved further away, perhaps towards the cave exit. “Said he was headed for Vizma, something about a merchant from Kovir saying his charter going there.

“If she’s anything like him, she’s alive. Probably smart as a whip and looking for him too.” The trophy was placed in a bag and she watched Adust now, seeing what he was doing. “Is looting them truly necessary?”

“It’s not like their money will do them any good here.”

“We’re about to make substantially more money when we turn this head in.”

“Still, not good to waste. Especially considering what these wastes were thinking of doing to you.”

“About that, thanks for the chip in back there.” She swatted him upside the head. “I could’ve taken them without your angsty warning scaring them, they looked like cheap sellswords.”

“True, they died like some too. I wasn’t worried about your survival, trying to keep him from swiping your potion. Didn’t work out so well.”

She chortled, looking over at the now bloated corpse of Valdo, shaking her head. “Dumb bastard. You’d think people’d learn at some point. Human’s cant take witcher potions, thats nothing but a recipe for internal hemorrhaging and rigor mortis.”

“Is it still rigor mortis is he isn’t dead yet?” It would seem Adust had finished fishing what little coin he could out of the mess that was the troupe. He pulled his hood over his head, nodding towards the exit. “Should be near sunrise, hopefully the earldorman is up.”

“We can get him up if he isn’t.” Kairos threw the sack over her shoulder, jogging to catch up.

 

\---

 

“Decided where you want to go yet?”

Adust looked up from the lumpy brown stew he’d been mushing about in for a few minutes, watching Kai sit across from him and set down a mug. “Not my turn to pick.” His eyes fell back to his meal.

“Eh, true but its not like I have anyone to chase after.” Kai watched her companion as she drank from her ale, knowing what he was up to.

“Neither do I.” Boy could avoid a topic like a child avoids spankings. Diligently, but uselessly when Kai’s around.

“....Vizima then.” That had him looking up, searching for answers in her face. It remained that smug yet matronly smile she always worse across her tanned skin. “Always nice to visit the bigger cities. See what all the fuss is about.”

“... no other uh.. Errands to run?”

Kai thumped the table as she set her mug down. “This is my errand. The whole business with you pining but avoiding him needs to be put to bed. Did he say something to you last time?”

“No! God, no. I’m not avoiding him, Kurist is just busy searching for whats left of his family. Not many of us get that opportunity.” Adust shrunk down a bit in his seat, silvery hair peeking out from beneath his hood.

“Then shouldn’t we help him, Ads? If i had any clue as to where my family was I’d jump and the chance to track ‘em. And I’d be honored to have you two helping me.”

“He has help!”

“We both know Veesk-ij is worse at tracking than talking to people.” Kai couldn’t help but feel a pleasant thrumm when thinking of Kurist’s Zerricanian companion, memories of an unresolved tension. “Not saying we should hang around if he doesn’t need us but knowing that loudmouth, he’s probably mouthed off to half the city by now. I bet you we get to Vizima and they’re fighting off a gang of street thugs cause Ijji looked at them funny and Kurist had to make some dumb joke about them.

“Maybe you’re right… But!! If he says he doesn’t need us we move on. Cities aren’t great for our line of work and while we’ve got some now its not like we’re bursting with coin.” Adust lowered his voice as a few more people entered the tavern, eyes low to keep them from showing.

Kai held her chin up, raising her mug high as the seemingly farmers eyes her griffin’s head medallion before wandering off. It wouldn’t be a hard road to Vizima, but she knew they had their work cut out for them.


	2. Viziman Champions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Brackets [ ex ] will be used to denote when someone is speaking another language.

The thug’s arm swung wide, the woman nimbly ducking out of range. Her breathing was measured and a planted foot sent a hard left hand slamming upside her opponents jaw. He teetered, shaking the blow off just in time for her to leap up, raining a hard right down into his temple. There was nothing to stop his unconscious body from flumping onto the bare stone floor, a raucous cheer flaring up from the other patrons.

“What a filly that one is! Ja, you see that? She knocked out Bert!” An elven man snickered, jabbing the halfling standing next to where he’d been squatting.

Veesk-ij didn’t listen to the smaller one’s reply, though she’s sure it was foul from the tone he used. She approached her companion, a shorter man with darkened skin, red hair and scared covering a third of his face. He was grabbing a bag of money from a man considerably larger than himself. His slitted eyes fell on her as a toothy grin spread even wider.

“Perfect, perfect! Told you we make Waaay more when you let them think they’re winning for the first bit.” He motioned for her to follow, the plates in his armored coat loosened in this warmer tavern basement.

“[We do, and it is much funnier to see their faces change when I suddenly hit them ten times as hard.]” She belted out a boisterous laugh, flexing her bicep at a nearby tavern girl. Her skin was pale, denoting that while she spoke Zerrikanian her family wasn’t from there. ALmond shaped eyes followed the other possible fighters, a fiery warning flared in them.

“Calm down, we want them to think they can take you remember. No use playin our hand.”

“Speakin’ of.” The halfling from before had followed the two, jabbing a stubby finger at them. “I want my gold back. If I’d known this lassie was a witcher’s wench, I’da never bet ‘gainst’er!”

Veesk-ij grabbed his finger and yanked forward with a loud pop, followed by the crackle of strained joints as she lifted him by it. “I am no wench. I belong to me. Break anyone who say otherwise.” The runt could only howl in response, causing a few of the tavern goers to jeer and whistle at this new form of entertainment.

“Let the little bastard go, think he’s learned enough.” Kurist turned to leave, his boots thumping up the stairs. Ijji dropped the halfling and he bawled, holding his wrist. She could see the rage boiling into his face and when he looked up to scream at her he found an armored boot slamming into his nose with a nasty crunch.

The roar of laughter only got louder as the two left, suffice to say they weren’t exactly popular but no one ballsy enough to follow them was angry. Yet.

“I don’t get it Ijji, you’d think they’d learn not to buck up when you beat their ‘strong as an ox’ friend to a pulp.” Kurist shook his head, soon exiting the building all together. “C’mon lets go find somewhere a lil less shitty to spend the night, whaddaya say?”

“[Somewhere with a hot bath, and privacy. Don’t want to have to get dressed for a few hours.]” She spoke with a roll of her shoulder, the joint sore from her numerous fights that day. The two had been in Vizima about a month, searching for some lead on a long lost sister. I’m Veesk-ij’s mind, family wasn’t worth tracking down this much, the two had been in Kovir the months prior before heading down the coast a ways. She, as an orphan, had never put stock in looking for blood relatives that made no motion to look for her.

But perhaps that line of thought wasn’t fair when applied to him. Kurist had actually known his family for a time, this sister of his he’d helped raise before the law of surprise took him from his them. In his own words it wasn’t a happy life, and he makes no effort to look for the ones who reared him, Ijji can hear the resentment lying in his voice when he speaks the word. Parents. But some fraternal instinct belies him, pushes him to seek her out. She’d been quiet, her eyes searching for some sort of answer in his face as the two walked. The drops of amber washed over his cheeks, marred from scars from beasts and men alike, they slid from his dark skin through the red waves of his hair. Feathery, light. It’s such a shame, she thinks, that he’s so uninterested in the carnal arts. He could truly be a heartbreaker if he would make himself available more.

“Keep staring and you’re liable to start drooling, Ijji. Anything on your mind?” He didn’t look at her as he spoke, at least not for a moment. Those slitted pupils set in brights with streaks of yellow to orange made their way to meet her own once he was done, when he knew she’d snapped out of her thoughts enough to really lock gazes. There was that energy he had, that challenging nature of his poured through those eyes. Something as if to say, ‘dispute me, reject the notion that you are so enthralled by my presence’.

“[Thinking of the bath, and whether to invite you to it. You might not have hunted since we arrived, but you do so need one.]” She wouldn’t shrink away, Ijji was stubborn. While he wasn’t her usual type, a bit less feminine than she cares for, she couldn’t deny his charm and it helped that he was one of the few that understood her problem with love.

“Hey!! Hey!!! I know you two can hear me!!!!” The sound of shouting and clunky armor broke her thoughts, she had been spacing far too much for her own liking. Perhaps it was the fights. As keen eyes searched for the source of this disturbance, it didn’t take them long to find it. Jogging down the lane was a tall, brawny woman with even tanned skin and short cropped hair. Her face bisected horizontally with a long scar across her nose, two swords clanked heftily on her back, and a griffin’s head medallion bounced against a hard, burnt orange breastplate. The witcher Kai huffed as she caught up to her friends, planting her hand on her muscular hips with a bright smile. “Hell, make me chase your asses across the globe why don’t you.”  
“|Chase my ass across the globe and you might just get a piece of it. Who am I kidding, chase it down the street and you can have it all.|” Ijji laughed heartily, punching Kai in her shoulder a little harder than comfortable.

Kai nods, eyes bulging out as she listened to the foreign language. From the length of time she simply nods in silence its fairly obvious she has no idea what was just said.

“Hahaha! Yeah! Thats uh. Yeah!” She tries to keep from rolling her shoulder to alleviate the ache. Yeesh, that girl can hit hard.

“Kai, whats uh. What’re you doin’ here?” Kurist sounded less enthused than he has in a long time when greeting his friend, tongue pressing against his lower teeth for a moment. Kai can’t help but notice, but doesnt let it bother her. Visibly.

“Looking for you, obviously. Not like I’ve got anything better to do! Besiiiides, you need some help with this!” She grinned, patting Kurist on the shoulder and managing to show off the near half a foot taller than him she is. “Usually you’d be in jail by now, or at least fleeing town after pissing off as many people as possible.”

“Not like we have not tried. Big town, lot more people to annoy,” Ijji jeered, shooting a wink at the other woman.

Kurist stood, tight lipped. A bit of an unusual departure from his usual carefree demeanor, one that was easy to notice and Kai let out a haggered sigh as her hands planted on her hips. “C’mon, don’t give me that look. I’m only here to give you a hand looking, not get in the way!”

“I told Adust, I can handle it. I want to meet her, not have someone else bring her to me.” His voice was unsteady, a strange sound coming from him.

“We won’t get in the way! We’ll just help you look and-”

“ **We??** Is Adust here too? So You both knew what I said and you just ignored me?”

“Kurist,” Kai spoke, her voice soft but commanding of attention. Before she’d left her own family she’d been in charge of the other children and growing up with the other witchers in training she was too. “We are your friends. We want to help you, not do it for you. If any of us had this chance we know you’d-”

_“Respect your wishes and let you handle it by yourself?”_ Kurist interrupted again, a nasty habit of his when he was feeling crossed.

“No, you wouldn’t. You **know** you wouldn’t.” Kai pushed past her friend, knowing she had nothing said all she needed. Ijji stood quietly, but placed a hand on her shoulder. A small show of reassurance.

“...Fiiiine.” when he finally spoke again he sounded less distraught and more like his usual self, tone filled with his iconic sense of mirthful snark. “I guess I could let you guys pretend to help for a while, just try not to steal my thunder.”

There it was, that was the one she knew, Kai walked backwards for a spell, grinning back to her friend. “As if we ever could.”

\--

Leather scraped against wood, boots clapping against stone streets, the jingle of buckles as his equipment swings a bit on his run. These sounds Adust knew by heart. He’d tried so much to cancel them, changing the was he leaps and catches, tightening his straps. Even fellow witchers had to listen for him when he moved, but his hearing was a touch more sensitive than average.

A tile on the roof he’d been running on snapped loose and he rolled, tumbling down its side before catching the edge and tossing himself down to the balcony below. A man who’d been climbing it gasped, losing his grip and sliding out of sight. ‘Luckily for him, the fall wasn’t very far,’ Adust thought, ‘perhaps he’ll only twist his ankle rather than break his leg.’

He moved on, the feline grace he’d been trained with aiding in his flight along the buildings. His hood fell loose on a leap, silvery hair shining against the moonlight. They were staying in a tavern two buildings over, from what he’d heard. Two witchers and a foreigner.

There, a light caught his eye. The barn. He stopped short of the roof’s edge, dropping down from the squat building with ease and landing on his feet. Every time. He was lithe, learner than any of his companions but considering their mass that wasn’t hard to be. Still, powerful legs strode into the gated barn to the raucous laughter of his friends, Kurist being the first to notice him.

“Adust, was wondering when you’d stop stalking around and check in.” His voice was warm, eyes like sunsets fell on the other and Adust couldn’t help the four of five blinks that passed before he could find his voice.

“Stalking? Was looking, not that I had to with how loud all of you are.” He felt the small tug of a smile fall across his face at the jab, satisfied with himself.

“If that was the case, what took you so long?” And with that, a bit of blush fell over his face. Kurist always seemed to have something to throw back verbally, and Adust should know that. But it’s not as if it was unpleasant to him.

“I was waiting for you to quit pouting and let us give you a hand.” His voice was significantly softer, a firm hand grabbed his shoulder as he tried to walk past and yanked him into a hug. His voice caught in his throat.

“Of course, of course. Not like you’d want to confront me or anything, scaredy cat.” The snicker that followed proved his friend wasn’t mad and Adust sank into the hug. He was almost sad when it ended.

Crossing over to sit on a bale of hay, he noticed Ijji passed out in a stall, Kai sitting on top of a barrel in front of it. “What happened to her?”

“Got drunk, armwrestling for drinks. Won every time until she was too sauced to stand up without knocking the table over.” Kai sniggered, sipping on a bottle of her own. “Took both of us to wrestle her out the door and she konked out the second we were outside.”

“Mmh.” Adust grunted in acknowledgement, eyeing the woman from his seat. He didn’t know her well, not like he knew the other two. All he knew was that she was strong, possibly the strongest of them, where she was from and that she and Kurist got along like a house on fire. Very well and very dangerously.

Silence took the barn for a few minutes, the three of them hesitating to broach the subject. Finally Kai spoke out. “So what do you know?”

“....Parents are dead. At least mom is, nobody in the old town knew where dad went.” Kurist huffed, his expression distant and more piteous than sad. “Sad he just stopped coming in to buy food. Old house fell into ruin.”

“Siblings?” Adust postured, moving to drape his forearms over his knees.

“Two. Older brother, younger sister. Older left while I was young. Never looked back. Said he wanted a new life, aimed for Skellege. Probably died from the voyage.”

“Not all the islanders kill the crews they raid, many let the survivors go.”

“Kaldur wasn’t the surrendering type. But I digress, trail’s too old. Couldn’t find it when I was a kid and anyone who knew where he went is long dead.” He shrugged, not seeming all that torn up about this information.

“So what about your sister, you think she’s here? In Vizima?” Kai cocked her head.

“Well, that trail is pretty easy to follow. Folk told me she wouldn’t stop talking about joining up when she lived there, sound like as soon as mom died she ran.” He stood from the post he’d been leaning against. “Trail lead out of Vellen, sounded like the wouldn’t take her as she was, not a lot of armies let women serve, _forward thinking as they are.”_ That earned a snort from Kai.

“But she had some trace of something valuable from what I heard, or at least someone saw something valuable in her. Heard some sorceress took her on for a bit.”

“She a mage?” Kai’s voice full of wonder.

“Not good, don’t trust mages.” Adust’s was not.

“You don’t trust anyone,” Kurist chided, “But I don’t think so, servants I talked to said she wasn’t there anymore, that she’d been shipped over to Vizima. What for, I don’t know. They just said some guy named Thoradus was taking her on for some training.”

This name sounded familiar to Adust, one he’d heard while eavesdropping some hours before. “Thoradus? _Marion_ Thoradus?”

“Didn’t get a first name, none of them wanted to tell me his last name.”

“Heard something about him, fishmonger? I think? Was in the markets looking for word of you when I heard the name. Something about his warehouse stinking to high heaven.” Adust sighed, trying to recall anything of what he’d heard. It didn’t seem important at the time so now he just groaned, not coming up with anything more.

“It’s a start, somewhere to look.” Kai hopped up from her steat and began unbuckling her jerkin. “Somewhere to look in the morning that is. I’m beat, and you two need to rest some too. I get the feeling this won’t be a simple walk in walk out.”

“I think you’re right. Fishmonger taking on a sorceress’ ward for training? It stinks.” kurist hummed, tapping his chin.

“No, its the warehouse that stinks. Thought I said that..”

**Author's Note:**

> More to come later. More characters, more fights, more fun.


End file.
